


oh, pretty ballerino

by cryystal_m00n



Series: we going high (school) [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Background Relationships, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Making Out, Sexual Tension, artist!johnny, ballerino!ten, johnten are Dumb, take a shot everytime i say sketchbook challenge, they hate each other for like a hot minute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-13 23:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16028303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryystal_m00n/pseuds/cryystal_m00n
Summary: ten hates johnny, johnny hates ten. it's how things are. then why on earth is johnny's sketchbook filled with drawings of ten?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> lets all pray i post the rest of this today or at least soon lmao

ten stares at himself in the big mirror. he moves his arm, watching as his reflection does the same thing. his shirt is clinging to his skin in a way that makes him want to take it off and toss it away, but he knows he can’t do that in the practice room. the girls are still here,  _he_ is still here.

 

he sighs one last time and turns around to face jane. she has been rambling to him about her stage for the past five minutes, but ten was too busy trying not to look at the boy sitting on the floor across the room to actually pay her any mind.

 

johnny seo, resident artist of the high school and also resident fuckturd that hates ten with a burning passion. good thing the feeling is mutual. their peculiar relationship goes way back to their fifth grade, when ten has just moved to america, just moved to this bigger school where he knew no one. when asked to introduce himself, ten simply mentioned the thing that made him happy: ballet. as soon as he said that, johnny started snickering, joking about how that’s only for girls.

 

after that, they didn’t really talk to each other, with them having different circles of friends and all that. but every once in a while, johnny would throw a quick remark about how ten looks like more like a girl as the days pass. and ten, being the hotheaded teen that he was, he had to fight back, most of the time just telling johnny about how he can at least spend time with girls and not have them run away screaming. typical middle-school behavior.

 

to say the least, they weren’t friends and will probably never be.

 

however, whenever ten has practice, johnny somehow always ends up in the room, sitting down on the floor, sketchbook resting on his legs as he looks around and draws whatever it is that he draws. ten doesn’t want to know. when hayley, one of the girls, asked him why is he always here, johnny just shrugged and said something about waiting for mark to finish practice next door. when asked by another girl why doesn’t he just stay next door, johnny said, as he looked around (and ten could swear his eyes lingered on him) that here it’s prettier.

 

so that’s that, and ten tries not to let it bother him when he catches johnny’s eyes in the mirror.

 

* * *

 

he’s been running late, is what he tells himself as he borrows a pair of shorts from hayley. he forgot to pack his pants because he’s a dumbass; he clearly didn’t mean for it to happen. but the girls don’t seem to care about his reasons when they try to make a bet with him.  _make johnny hard and we’ll buy you your overpriced coffee for a month_ , they said. and look, ten is not one to say no to a bet, especially when it involves coffee.

 

so that’s how, not even ten minutes later he finds himself bent in half as he stretches, ass facing johnny. he can hear the girls giggling next to him but he tries to ignore them. he keeps telling himself that this will all be worth it in the end.

 

and before he knows it, kyla is playing beyoncé and he’s grinding the floor, ballet practice be damned. he doesn’t even realize that johnny has left the room, bag thrown over his shoulder and jacket in his hand. it’s only when he looks in the direction johnny usually is that he notices the sketchbook laying on the floor, its owner nowhere in sight.

 

he sighs, standing up from the floor and going to pick it up, in hopes that he could give it to the other boy tomorrow, or even better, give it to mark.

 

“let’s look through it!” jane yells over the music, running over to his side and snatching it from ten’s hands. at the same time, another girl screams something about having seen johnny try to cover his very obvious hard-on. next to him, jane nudges ten, already flipping to the pages full of drawings.

 

the boy reaches for it, but he gives up after not even five seconds of trying. johnny seo has always been a dick to him, why should he even care about what happens to his stupid sketchbook?

 

so he lets the girls have their fun and goes back to practicing his  _b_ _risé_ . it’s not like he can’t do it, he’s been doing this for more than ten years, but he would rather do anything, even a  _développé_ _._ he’s going for a spin when he hears the girls shriek, which makes him lose his balance and almost fall on his ass.

 

he turns to glare at them but aniyha is already holding the sketchbook open in front of his eyes. he focuses on the drawing only to see himself on the paper. he finds himself blushing only the tiniest bit, before pushing it, and aniyah, away.

 

“he totally likes you!” chloe squeks, jumping to ten’s right.   
  
“one, he’s straight,” ten begins, holding her still by the arm, “two, i’m the only boy here, of course he will draw me for some variety,” he tells them as a matter of fact, trying to avoid their eyes, as he reaches for the book one more time.

 

“if he’s straight then so am i,” one of them says, making the others murmur in agreement.

 

ten sighs, taking the sketchbook at the exact moment the girls weren’t paying attention and closing it, before moving to put it in his bag. “don’t you have some  _swan lake_ to practice or something?”

 

“five bucks ten and johnny will end up dating by the end of the month.”

 

“a month? oh hell no! they need  _at least_ two, honey.”

 

ten just blocks their chatter and tries to finish his dance at least once. he doesn’t even go through half of it.

 

* * *

 

next day, first thing in the morning, he walks over to johnny’s locker, where he finds him talking to mark about something. he pushes the sketchbook in his arms, taking the boy by surprise.

 

“nice drawings of me, seo,” he says, already turning around to go and find doyoung.

 

“you wish i would draw you, ten!” johnny yells after him, but he is already too far away to actually turn and keep the conversation going.

 

so he just keeps going, never once turning around to look at the other boy.


	2. Chapter 2

“you’re wearing yoga pants,” is the first thing doyoung says when he meets him outside the practice room. “you… trying to seduce someone?”

 

“i,” ten begins as he takes the bag full of chocolate he promised the girls he will bring, “am not!”

 

doyoung just frowns, staying silent for a while as if deep in thought. “the only other dude that comes to your practice is john— oh my god, you want to bang johnny seo!”

 

ten’s eyes widen, quickly covering doyoung’s mouth to stop him from saying anything else just as dumb. thankfully, when he looks around he notices that they are the only ones on the hallway.

 

“i’m just gonna prove everyone that seo is straight!”

 

the elder hums, clearly not impressed by ten’s excuse. he fixes the collar of the other’s crop top, before leaning in to boop his nose. “go get that chicago dick!” he says, before turning around with one last pat on ten’s shoulder.

 

“and you get that teacher dick, asshole,” the silver haired boy mumbles under his breath. he takes one deep breath and opens the door to the practice room.

 

a few of the girls were sitting in a circle, helping each other stretch, while hayley kiyoko is playing in the background. ten puts his bag down, walking over to where the girls were. as soon as jane sees him, she gasps, putting too much pressure on chloe’s back and making it pop.

 

“chittaphon leechaiyapornkul what on _earth_ are you wearing?” she yells, moving to cover the younger girls’ eyes.

 

the boy shrugs, sitting down next to them and spreading his legs nonchalantly. “pants?”

 

“dude,” seulgi starts from next to him, “i can see your dick! that’s gross!” he shrugs one more time.

 

momo sends him a look and winks at him, his friend already understanding what’s going on inside ten’s head. he tries to ignore the questions coming from the girls, doing his best to stretch while waiting for the door to open. not even fifteen minutes later, someone comes in, but they don’t move from the entryway.

 

when ten turns around, he meets eyes with johnny, who is very obviously staring right at his ass. he smirks and wiggles it a bit, succeeding in making the elder blush.

 

“johnny seo!” momo appears next to him, making the boy jump just a little. “if you were to fuck anyone in this room, who would it be?”

 

johnny looks a bit startled by the question, but he smiles at the japanese girl nevertheless. “i mean, _obviously,_ it would be you, momo,” he says as he runs his hand through his brown hair, gesture making ten gag.

 

such a fuckboy.

 

the girl looks at him unimpressed, pushing him to where his usual place is. “thanks, but no thanks. unless your name is sana and you like science, i’m not into you.”

 

ten frowns at her. “what about mina?” she flips him off, but doesn’t say anything else.

 

“but really, johnny, who would you fuck?” one of them asks as she moves closer to the boy. “do they have a nickname?”

 

“are they your enemy?” another one provides.

 

“are they tiny and gay and totally best friends with nurse lee?”

 

“are they ten?”

 

“girls, girls, you all know i would _never_ like  ten,” johnny explains, hands in the air as if to defend himself.

 

“good thing i would _never_ like you either, seo,” ten parrots, turning back around and hitting play on his song.

 

he is so focused on his dance, so focused on pretending that johnny seo doesn’t exist, that he misses the quick look of hurt on his face.

 

god, he wishes he never left thailand.

 

* * *

 

ten is looking at the ceiling in nurse lee’s office. nurse lee, taeyong, is busy writing some very official nurse things in his very official nurse notebook. ten is sure that he is just writing coach jung’s name surrounded by a million hearts.

 

“tae-hyung, i swear i will punch his dick!”

 

“baby, if you do that, i will be the one that will have to take care of it,” taeyong says off-handedly, not once stopping from scribbling in his notebook.

 

“he’s so _annoying,_ you have no idea!”

 

“tennie, why don’t you just tell him that he bothers you?” taeyong, ever the more rational one, asks. ten mumbles something inaudible at that, taking one of the pillows and putting it over his face.

 

“what?”

 

“i said,” he begins as he takes a deep breath from under the pillow, “i annoy him too…”

 

as soon as he says that, taeyong puts his pen down and moves to sit on the bed, hand going to play with ten’s silver locks. “baby, do you like him?”

 

there’s a groan from under the pillow, but it’s enough for the elder to understand. “you know, i thought jae was straight too for a long time.”

 

“i don’t think that he is, tae! i know!”

 

“have you ever asked him yourself?” taeyong questions, hand still cradling through the hair gently. when there is no reply, he shakes his head. “it’s not nice to assume someone’s sexuality, ten.”

 

“i know,” ten whines, pulling the pillow down to look up at the nurse. the man smiles at him softly. “ugh, too bright…”

 

“talk to him, ten. you never know what might happen if you actually communicate with him and not just argue.”

 

the dancer nods at the advice and hugs taeyong’s torso. “thank you, hyung.”

 

the red haired man laughs and keeps petting him. “maybe i really am your dad,” he muses just as there is a knock on the door. he doesn’t pull back from the younger, as this type of scenery is not something new in the nurse’s office. most kids come to him for advice.

 

the door opens, and ten doesn’t have time to look up and see who the newcomer is before he hears him. “oh, _you’re_ here.”

 

he can feel just how unwanted he is in the room, so he stands up, kisses taeyong on his cheek and takes his bag from the floor. he mutters an ‘i told you so,’ to the man, before turning around to leave.

 

“yea, seo, and now i’m not here anymore,” he says, voice just as venomous as johnny’s as he passes him and exits the office.

 

he hates straight boys a lot, but he hates johnny seo the most.

 

(or at least, that’s what he tells himself.)


	3. Chapter 3

ten sits at the kitchen table, nursing one hell of a headache and blowing gently in his tea cup. his mom left with strict instructions for him to drink at least one liter of tea and to eat one liter of her chicken soup. he is barely halfway through his first cup. 

 

he hasn’t been going to school for three days now, seeing as he was suddenly hit with a nasty flu out of nowhere, but that didn’t stop doyoung from sending him the notes that he missed on. he sighs as yet another message from taeyong stops him from trying to decipher his friend’s writing. 

 

just like the last six texts from his older best friend, this one is a picture of his dog, in hopes that it will make ten feel better. it succeeds, just like the last six, making the younger coo at his phone, notes forgotten yet again. 

 

he is trying to come up with a cute response, while trying not to sneeze his life out, when there’s suddenly a knock on his door. he checks the time, thinking for a second that his mom forgot something important again, but he shakes the thought away when he realizes that she never knocks, not even when she forgets her keys. 

 

he puts his phone down and slowly makes his way towards the door, pulling the blanket closer to his body. he doesn’t check through the peephole, before yanking the door open to tell whatever salesperson there is on the other side to fuck off. 

 

he can’t say anything, however, as he is met with the one and only johnny seo. too tall for ten’s liking johnny seo, who is looking down at him with a confused look written on his face. maybe ten’s idea of scaring and/or yelling at his visitor wasn’t the wisest choice of action. 

 

after an awkward pause of a few seconds, johnny finally opens his mouth, only to say the smart line of ‘sup?’

 

ten can’t believe him. he feels like going back inside to get his hot tea and dump it on his cute ugly face.

 

“can i come in?” he asks, pointing with his head towards the interior of the house. ten, who is still shocked by the presence of  _ johnny seo  _ at his doorstep, can only nod and move aside. 

 

johnny smiles and walks inside, throwing his shoes on the floor and hanging his coat. he nods at ten, a sign of ‘shall we?’, and ten just grits his teeth and walks to the kitchen, pulling a seat out for the taller man. 

 

the thai boy leans on the counter, throwing glances at johnny, who is busy trying to look around without making it look to obvious. he points to the photo behind ten, asking a simple ‘is that your family?’. 

 

ten looks at the photo, having forgotten that it is placed in such an odd spot. he smiles gently at it. “yea, it’s me, my parents and my sister. they took it back in thailand, on our last christmas there.” 

 

“that’s nice,” johnny says, and ten is not sure if he means it or not. 

 

he coughs once, twice, before turning around and putting the kettle back on. “tea?” 

 

“hm? yeah, sure.” 

 

the younger nods to himself, already reaching for the bag of mint tea that his mom keeps on the upper shelf. he reaches and reaches, not wanting to give up and take one of the chairs to make his life simpler. he sighs, putting his hand on the counter to steady himself, when he feels someone behind him. 

 

he stills, and sees johnny’s longer arm pass his and pull the bag of tea from its place. ten turns around slowly, looking up at the other boy. he has never been this close to him before. 

 

johnny gives him the bag, as he mutters “there’s your bag, shorty.” 

 

that’s enough for ten to kick him in the shin, making the taller boy lean over and grab the abused leg. ten just smirks as he walks past him and puts the leafs in the kettle full of boiling water. he can still hear johnny whining. 

 

“quit being a baby, i didn’t even hit you that hard.” 

 

“fuck you,” he responds, as he dramatically jumps back to his seat, before promptly falling on it, hand still pressed on his shin. 

 

“you wish, seo,” ten snorts, putting an empty cup in front of the boy. he grabs a full pack of oreos and puts them next to it. “eat. then you can tell me why you’re here.”

 

johnny takes one of the cookies, splits it open and dunks it in ten’s mug. he eats it in one go, making ten feel just as disgusted as any other human would. he keeps eating his cookies, as well as stealing from ten’s tea, not stopping the abuse even after the sick boy pours him his own share of it. 

 

“why did you miss school?” he asks, after he stuffs his face with the sixth oreo. 

 

ten rolls his eyes, pointing to the blanket that’s still wrapped around his shoulders, the pills that laid on the table and his long gone tea. “why does it look like, john?”

 

“cause i fucked up?” 

 

the thai boy jumps back on the counter, letting his feet dangle on the side. “you fucked up a ton of times, johnny, yet you didn’t see me cry over it,” he says, playing with the hem of his shirt. 

 

“i know, and i’m sorry for that, ten. that’s basically why i’m here. i acted like a dick to you even though you didn’t do anything to me. so yeah, i guess i’m sorry for making fun of you and for just being an actual twat. yeah…” 

 

“wait, stop,” ten interrupts him in the middle of his speech. “i’m sorry too, i guess. i didn’t mean for our little feud to go on for so long. i could’ve just ignored you.” 

 

“so… we’re cool?” johnny questions as stands up and moves towards the younger. ten just nods, mumbling a soft ‘cool’. 

 

he watches johnny as he walks closer and closer to him, and before he can register what’s happening, he feels a pair of arms wrap around him. they pull him as close as they can, and ten can only smell the vague scent of the taller’s soap and cologne as his nose is pressed to johnny’s chest. 

 

he can’t understand why this is happening right now. he hears the elder cough before he gently pushes him away and lets out a tiny awkward laugh. this definitely doesn’t make things better. 

 

“cool,” he whispers, looking down at ten. he reaches one hand forward to push the bangs from his eyes, making ten lean in and close his eyes. “ten?” 

 

the boy hums, not daring to open his eyes and maybe ruin whatever they’re having right now. he feels johnny lean in closer and the only thing he can do it the same thing. he tilts his head up just a bit, the touch of the taller’s lips on his feeling like everything he ever imagined kissing johnny would feel like. gentle, soft, like everything is finally right. 

 

damn, why did their relationship have to become the cliche enemies to lovers story. he pushes the thought away, choosing instead to focus on the lips pressed against his. he pulls johnny closer, pressing harder on his mouth. 

 

“you’ll catch my cold,” he murmurs against johnny’s lips when he pulls back to take a breath. 

 

“worth it.”

 

so maybe johnny seo isn’t the straightest boy there is, judging by the fact that his tongue has been down ten’s throat for almost fifteen minutes before they finally decide to stop and go cuddle on the couch. and maybe, ten doesn’t hate him as much as he liked to believe. and maybe, their story is cliche and basic, but fuck if ten doesn’t like it just like that.  

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/cryystal_moon)   
>  [tumblr](http://cryystal-m00n.tumblr.com)   
>  [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/cryystal_moon)


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